Candidemia: An Infection Prevention Issue?

Abstract

(See the Major Article by Suzuki et al on pages 689–96.) Candidemia has consistently ranked in the top 5 causes of nosocomial bloodstream infections in the past 2 decades [1, 2]. In this issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, Suzuki and colleagues present the temporal trends of candidemia incidence over a period of 18 years within the US veterans healthcare system, concluding that infection prevention interventions implemented over the time span of their study have had an effect in decreasing the incidence of this infection. The National Health and Safety Network surveillance (NHSN) system of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has indeed shown a gradual decrease central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSI) over the past 2 decades or so in the United States [2], this being a result of focus on this infection as a national healthcare safety priority since...